African Affairs Advance Access originally published online on May 18, 2009
African Affairs 2009 108(432):435-451; doi:10.1093/afraf/adp024
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Healing The Scar? Idealizing Britain in Africa, 1997–2007
Julia Gallagher (jg35{at}soas.ac.uk) is a research student at the School of Oriental and African Studies. This article draws on interviews conducted with British politicians and officials in London, Abuja, and Freetown in 2007. An earlier version was presented at the African Studies Association UK conference in Preston, September 2008. The author thanks members of the Politics Department at SOAS and the journal's reviewers and editors for helpful comments on earlier drafts of the article.
This article examines the British government's commitment to Africa during Tony Blair's time as Prime Minister. Drawing on interviews with politicians from across the political spectrum and with officials involved in Africa policy, it shows how British work and relationships in Africa are described in thin and highly idealized ways, depicting a project seemingly able to transcend ordinary politics. The article suggests that this idealization of Africa has been valued by state actors for the ways in which it appeared to connect them to a ‘good’ and ‘noble’ cause, and in particular the way it enhanced their perceptions of the capacity and potency of the British state.